Depression is a universal problem and it is an ancient problem. The Bible is full of accounts of depressed and suicidal people: Elijah, Sons of Korah, Jonah, etc. Heman the Ezrahite, the writer of Psalm 88, was another one who lamented his feelings of rejection and how he felt God had let him down. His thoughts turn suicidal but he continually dialogues with God in the midst of the darkness.

The 2nd Song of Christmas, Bethlehem’s Song of Sorrow, from Matthew 2. As Matthew tells it, these are the final words of Christmas: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” Christmas ends with deep sorrow and tears. How come out of all the ways Matthew could have been directed by the Holy Spirit to end the Christmas story, this way, with the threat on the baby Jesus’ life, the fleeing in the night to Egypt, the slaughter of the innocents, this is the way that first Christmas ends in Matthew?
Jesus comes into our grief to share it fully and lead us in a final exodus to a place where sorrow and tears don’t have the last word. Christmas is big enough for your tears. Jesus is worth your tears. And you are worth tears to Jesus. He will be a threatened child, as so many children are threatened today needing someone to speak up for the little ones. And he will be a refugee, so that we have a heart for the refugee, too.

A first attempt at a liturgy of Lament, a practice vital to the Church's participation in the Missio Dei, but largely avoided, ignored or forgotten in the contemporary Christian setting. A brief explanation of the practice, and an attempted reflective exercise using lament.

God has given the laments of Scripture to shape the individual and the community of the redeemed in their darkest hours. In this sermon, we approach some basic questions of lament and remembrance: What does it look like to lament biblically? How can we come along side those who are grieving? How does remembering God's promises relate to lamenting well?